2 responses
Fourth Call – Review and Renew This has become a religion based in fear, folkways, and unfamiliarity with God, as evidenced by silence from the heavens. Fear dominates this landscape: fear of social judgment from others in a climate where this form of unrighteousness abounds, fear to speak even anywhere for the cause of justice and return of the proper place for law, fear of suffering the wrath of those who should be defenders of law and upholders of justice, fear from attack by outsiders, long past but still in memory, fear of those who claim God’s authority to oppress when they have it not (see D&C 121: 34-46), fear of a God who is falsely believed to condone and even approve of unrighteous dominion and all manner of sin. Is this from a dangerous interpretation of the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132? This is a religion that for too long has substituted man’s sovereignty over and above accountability for transgression due to the false notion that there is a higher law that excuses any of those who call themselves by His name from observing the love of God and the love of His children. (By the way, experience has taught me that when you love someone, with that comes an understanding of them.) When a people will persist in sin or erroneous doctrine – that sin and that erroneous doctrine takes hold. Our folkways fly in the face of common sense as well as plain doctrine, stated over and over again throughout scripture, that God requires we value others and act as angels to one another, not Devils. When we become enchanted by the spell of false doctrine and embrace deviant practices such as abusing the rights and persons of others, these things become a part of who we are. (Both enchantment and spell refer to the making of words to effect change. They are nowhere used in the gospel to describe the action of God or His servants, however.) It is required of us, each one of us, whether or not our leaders are in agreement, to identify and cast off false traditions based on fear, force and selfishness for a few and turn away from deviant practices in ourselves or in others. (By deviant, I mean anything that diverges from God’s commandments, or the spirit in which those commandments are given.) Why was Worth Kilgrow shielded from Joseph Musser and from Rulon (blog 29)? I see a chain of events outlined in Bro. Steve’s blog that has culminated in having his seed (in more than one sense) put up as our head. I see this as nothing less than a test of our understanding of the gospel and our valiance in living it. It is our SAT (“Spiritual Aptitude Test”) that determines whether we pass into the tribulation with God or suffer with the strangers and apostates, and that goes for unquestioningly sustaining his defenders, too, who already appear to have made their choice on that big true or false question. If a people reject truth long enough, “God shall send them strong delusion”. (See 2 Thess. 2:10-12.) If you live a lie long enough that lie becomes your truth. Why doesn’t the Council do anything about it? Why, indeed. Why haven’t many more from the clouds of witness and victims over the years been heard and vindicated? Why, indeed. Why do the judges sustain perpetrators and not their victims, over and over again? Why, indeed. We become what we do. Like Marley’s ghost we wear the chains we forged in life. • Each generation has to earn the gospel for itself all over again. • Each generation has to learn how to pray fruitfully and with power, all over again. • Each generation needs to understand how to regard and treat others as God does in His realm, all over again. (How else can we do our part to bring about His will on earth as it is in heaven?) • Each generation needs to know how to govern themselves to be and become Celestial citizens worthy of eternal life, all over again. • Each generation who claims the fullness of the gospel needs to sustain the gospel in its fullness, and that includes taking upon them not only the name of Jesus Christ, but the law and justice upon which his kingdom is based – all over again. • Each generation needs to master the understanding of scripture, discover how to have confidence in God, gain the ability to discern right from wrong and truth from falsehood - all over again. These things are not to be exclusively bestowed by men, upon whom we wait and on whom we singly rely. It is our responsibility to gain these things through our own effort, (“. . . it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Ne 25:23). That can include the ministration of others, but not without doing our own verifying with scripture and with prayer. Where have we fallen short? In putting our faith and our energies to support falsehoods, to sustain a gospel that condones, shields, and even exalts iniquity, to sustain tyrannical oppression and call it part of the way of God, making it our god. Where have we forsaken our first love? To ignore “every word of scripture” in favor of a “higher law” that is honored in a way that is neither higher nor holy. People who do not know right from wrong in the matter of the necessity to respect the rights of all, cherish the innocent, and nurture the future of those among us who are little ones now are in the kingdom of the Adversary. The Church for all its error, at least openly insists on a standard of personal holiness for its diverse members and will separate those found in the kinds of sin we should not tolerate. (One exception to this is to be found in blog 32, pp. 3-6, in the investigation of Bishop Pace.) Unless we repent at the individual level, whatever others may do, since all this is about individuals, it shall be pronounced upon us thus, as in Shakespeare’s words: “The rest is silence.”
— A posthaven user
The Sin of Repentance I watched a POV television special on a Lutheran Pastor in Williston, North Dakota. He had an obsession to rescue derelicts in this rural community to which they had come to seek the phantom of fabulous employment and escape troubled pasts. He pursued his one-man crusade for two years, filling his church and even his home with those who were hard to love, some even branded with the fleur de lys of sex offender. In this, he tried the patience of the community at large and his own paying congregation that silently left, one by one. The harassment of the newspaper who conducted their own investigation into the backgrounds of his protégés and the city council with their threats to enforce public safety with municipal ordinances was capped when an old blackmailer threatened to expose his former homosexual adultery because he couldn’t pay anymore. “The heart is a lonely hunter.” He promptly resigned and the letter was heart-rending. He confessed not only to the sin, he said he had violated the trust of his church and the community, betrayed his faithful wife and children, and failed as a pastor, neighbor, friend, father and Christian. He saw he had caused people to abandon the foothold on faith they had acquired. The confession was thorough and unconditional and he acknowledged the harm he had caused to each category of person. He did not ask for forgiveness, probably because he felt as a representative of God he was unworthy because he had been living a lie. At the end of the documentary he was homeless at age fifty-seven by his own hand. He acknowledged the sin and the significance of the sin and the sense he had of obligation to those he had harmed, as well as to God, whom he represented. Further, he admitted his sin was willful and deliberate. Despite a lapse and a fearful retreat into cover-up, this pastor was other-directed in all, as best he could understand of his motivations. * * * Contrast that with what we are expected to accept from a man as making peace with things that won’t be even given the weight as more than allegations. He who claims such great authority won't even acknowledge his equivocal invocation of “If” anymore. There is no place for “If” in the heart of a man of truth, or his sustainers, if they be men of truth. God the Father and Jesus, the Son don’t cloak themselves in “if.” We who call ourselves by his name, is this how we honor and serve them? Some are worried about a split; I should be worried likewise about a split, a split from the teaching and Spirit and Person of God. The split has already occurred. It was a split from God’s way to interpretations that were false and practices that were worthy of the denizens of a state prison. There has to be another split, a split from the chains of darkness and the Devil, a split from making a hiding place for lies and soul-destroying sin. Just what is the “abomination of desolation” (the abomination that makes desolate) that the Devil sets up in the temple of God? Whatever it is, an image or a man, or both, it is the opposite of God, a counterfeit before whom worship and obedience are demanded. Bad leaders don’t just hang out to strut on the stage, they teach falsehoods and demand others participate in their wrong ways of doing things, or not oppose them in any way. Not to oppose sin is to further it, the opposite of the spirit of the oath and covenant of priesthood. Where do we take our stand; is it at the right hand of Jesus, or at his left hand? Do we take refuge in men who claim to have authority of, or from God, or do we take refuge in God who has all authority? This age we are in contains the winding up scenes for the kingdoms of men. A few of those who were here at the foundation of the State of Israel will see it fulfilled. The Devil has been granted the power to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Is that a blanket reassurance or is that a warning that God’s definition of the very elect is different than what we think it is? An ordinance, alone does not confer election without the heightened awareness, responsibility to duty and the standard of conduct that goes with it. “Hence, many are called, but few are chosen.” (D&C 121:40) There’s a whole different way of thinking here. The Lutheran pastor would bear all this on himself. He had given refuge to over a thousand in his buildings and let one hundred use the church parking lot in their cars and motor homes. Do our men of prominence, I dare not all them leaders now, think of the awesome responsibility they bear to bring off God’s kingdom and the plan of salvation, or do they think only of themselves? They would make the noble sacrifice to protect us from the truth. (See Blog 8 of learnjustice.posthaven.com.) So would the Devil. Yes, their families staying together are at risk; yes, testimonies are at risk among the members, but there is something greater that is not at risk, and that is their standing with God. That is already forfeit as evidenced by God’s absence in power and the absence of justice among us, and the way they have turned priesthood into priestcraft by silencing Bro. Steve and using him as a public example of a mild exercise of their power that we don’t question, but not answering what he has presented point-by-point. Are they not answering his charges because they can't? Do they have the integrity of a fallen Lutheran Pastor, who at least took the first step to repentance, without being prompted? Their spokesman has presented their case, such that it is (Blog 8), and that is: appearance takes precedence over any other consideration, which in this case is truth, and charity, and the honor of God. “You want to know the truth? You can’t handle the truth.” Do we, in fact, get the government we deserve? Do we accept for leaders those who believe that it is a sin to repent? Brigham warned about this turning and descent of leadership out of sight of God, but they and we treat it as though it doesn’t really matter. We are walking about in darkness at noon, just like those we look askance at. If it came to a choice that would not go away, I hope and believe I would have sufficient strength of character and trust in the Eternal that I would choose to have a good name with my God and my Savior than merely notional possession of families, priesthood, keys, or any of it. These marriages of ours are supposed to be founded on our integrity and our profound respect for the sisters entrusted to us and our willingness to lead with them in the path of righteousness to Celestial glory. Do we owe them anything less? Do we think we owe them anything at all? Not facing this issue and not upholding righteousness is not serving them, or protecting them, rather it is cheating them from a full reward and betraying their trust in us and in the truth of the gospel. We all have to stand on our own and answer for our own deeds, but wouldn’t it be nicer if we had good examples around us to prompt and inspire us? What does it mean to love one’s family, anyway? Do we love them of and for ourselves, or do we love them as servants of God as trustees of God with regard for their spiritual development and joy that we will not allow to be taken from them? If we love them, after the manner that God loves us, then we will seek the Lord and his righteousness for their sakes. We will dare to uphold truth and invite them to do the same. We will set an example in our sphere like unto that of the Savior in keeping the law of God in our hearts and as a beacon before men, inviting as many as will to come to the marriage feast of the Lamb. It isn’t just all about us. Our law is not just punitive, it is positive. There is no place for fear, for cover-up, for unrighteous exercise of power over the minds of men, for misuse of another’s faith and trust in God through us, and resting upon us. The way of God and the way to Godhood are unchanging. If, despite all the helps we are supposed to have from a community of faith, priesthood, ordinances, and scriptures, we can’t sort it out and get it right, God has to let us take up only the portion of reward that we have earned. He may put his thumb on the scales in order to influence our better, more valiant natures, or protect us from being overwhelmed, but we have to make those right choices for ourselves. He’ll save a nation and He intends to for the millennium, but He’ll make do with a single family like Noah’s, or Abraham’s, or Lorin Woolley’s. Our place in prophecy is predicated on our intent and on our deeds. It’s up to us. The truth is before us, as well as that which would pass for that truth. Are we a part of that nation to be spared? Are we that family to be saved? What good does living or sustaining a lie of this magnitude do? Will that ensure to us an eternal posterity? Will that get us past the angels that defend the way of holiness? If we lie and call wrong to be accepted as a condition of fellowship with us, then our hope in an eternal or full salvation is, likewise, a lie. Who among us dares to presume to redefine the law that Jesus as God commands us to obey? Those of us who have studied our doctrines over the years know that this life is a probation. No ordinance held among men overcomes that, and if we are not worthy we do not get to have any of the blessings of the fullness, neither families, nor priesthood, nor keys. Unless we have a good name with God in the Lamb’s book of life, (Rev. 21:27) we will merit the reward of those who have sinned against greater light and knowledge and denied Jesus before men in terms of denying his gospel in Spirit and in deed. How can we serve the Lord by teaching the gospel to the nations if we do not honor it ourselves, or even know what it is? “15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. 16. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 20. Wherefore by their fruits and shall know them.” (Mt. 7: 15, 16, 17, 18, 20) “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (Mt. 13:15) (It is the inexorable law of God that men have to choose for themselves to move toward the light.) “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: | for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Mt. 7:7, 8) “48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who are my brethren? 50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt. 12:48,50) * * * This is the issue we face and this is the Lord’s standard for his people. “And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things that were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.” (3Ne 33:1) Is this what you are experiencing when a man or men speak concerning matters that have such great weight upon our pathway back to the presence of the Father and the Son? When was the last time you had such a powerful witness to the combined authority of the Lord and his servant? When was there a time when your children had such a witness?
— A posthaven user